Iron wood for a bow????

[II BYRDS]

hey have a question about using Iron wood for a bow. reason for asking is i have an 100 year old barn that was blown down in last years september wind storms from the hurrcane in the mid east. i have torn the barn down and in one location there was a log with the bark still on it. A guy i know tares old barns down and rebuilds them for a living, he told me that this log was iron wood. sure would be nice to have something like a bow made out of it. whats one think???

[Hillbilly]

If it's been sitting there for a hundred years with the bark on, it's more than likely riddled with powder post beetles.

[Josh]

Ironwood is also known as Hophornbeam and yes it will make a great bow.  How long was the log on the ground?  What's the diameter of the log?  Most ironwood around my area has twist how straight is the grain?   

EDIT:  Just saw where u said it had been down there for over a hundred years... I wouldn't trust it to make a bow, how about a mantle above your fireplace or a coffee table?   That way the old log still gets to be a conversation piece at least.

[Marc St Louis]

If the log was sheltered from the elements and off the ground it may still be good.  The only way to find out is to split it and check it out.  I do know that beetle grubs don't seem to like HHB as much as other woods.

[sailordad]

i am with marc on this
ya dont know untill ya split
oh yeah have fun splitting it,ive split about 15 hhb logs,each one makes ya wana quit and they always make elm seem easy to split

[Pat B]

Which "iron wood" is it?    Most extremely hard woods are called "iron wood" in one area or another.

[denny]

Hophornbeam is pretty hard wood and you probably would be surprised just how hard it is,thats why they call it Iron wood. It is noted ; to twist and sparks fly out of it when you split the staves . It might be wise to score it before you split it, It might be twisted inside. hard to believe ,but I have cut straight trees down and when you split them they twist. However they make a great bow. I have backed them with bamboo and made selfbows ,all seem to have character tho. Pretty wood, it has a rouge appearance, when seasoned, looks like black cherry also. good luck at least you will have fun splitting them.   Denny

[sailordad]

Hophornbeam is pretty hard wood and you probably would be surprised just how hard it is,thats why they call it Iron wood. It is noted ; to twist and sparks fly out of it when you split the staves . It might be wise to score it before you split it, It might be twisted inside. hard to believe ,but I have cut straight trees down and when you split them they twist. However they make a great bow. I have backed them with bamboo and made selfbows ,all seem to have character tho. Pretty wood, it has a rouge appearance, when seasoned, looks like black cherry also. good luck at least you will have fun splitting them.   Denny

i would NOT recomend "scoring or kerfing" the wood,if you do before you split it
it wont follow the longitudinal grain and there will be runoffs
yes hhb likes to twist when split,more so when green
i have had decent luck when letting it dry for several months,then halve the logs,leave sit to dry some more then split each half into half
when i do it this way i usually end up with minimal twist

the twisting comes from the interlocking grain of this type of wood
even straight logs will twist due to the interlocking grain

denny: not trying to rag on ya,but if you add boo it is no longer a selfbow,it is a backed bow

[denny]

Your right sailor it is not self, just commented on the fact that i had laminated one and it worked well, but self is better. I didn't understand the reason for the twist though. Thanks for the info. Someone told me the tree likes to grow on hills and the wind trains the grain. Boy I thought that took some thought. Also if I scored it I would allow for the possible frets by making the cut wide , there for no run offs... Thanks Denny

[Pat B]

The twist is the way the tree grows. Generally not all trees twist as they grow. Around here most do.   Just because the trunk looks straight doesn't mean it is. If you check out the bark closely you will see the twist there. The bark is the protective layer over the growing portion of the tree(the cambium) and the wood is the skeleton made up of dead layers of what was growing portion. The twist is telegraphed through the tree(bark, cambium and wood)as the tree grows and is a product of the tree's environment(ie. wind, terrain and growing conditions).
  By sawing a kerf you violate the longitudinal grain of the stave and unless you do back the bow it will probably twist or splinter at one of the violations. You will be better served by splitting out the stave and straighten it with heat unless it has too much twist.
If the bark is gone, you should be able to see the longitudinal grain on the outside of the log.  If there is too much twist, make a walking stick with it. Don't matter if a walking stick is twisted!
  Another option is to have the entire log sawn into lumber, stacked and allowed to acclimatize to it's new home before making backed bows from it.

[Pappy]

I would split it and then take a small sliver off it and give it a bend test.This will tell you weather it is dry rotted or not.If the small piece bends good  to a reasonable arch and don't snap then I would go for it.
   Pappy

[Marc St Louis]

I would kerf and split regardless of whether it has slight or severe twist. If it has severe twist then you can just back the bow

[DarkSoul]

There are about sixty species of wood called "ironwood" somewhere around the world. So: which do you have?

[denny]

Hey how about a picture to identify the wood.

[George Tsoukalas]

What Pappy said! Jawge